The present invention is concerned with an article of furniture which is extensible as to size.
Patent No. Re 5,275 to Caro discloses a bestsad having essentially three units including a center frame and extensible wings along each side of the center frame. The bedstead includes slidable bed slats alternately attached to the side wings for increasing the width of the bedstead from a single bed to a double bed. In Caro, a central spine or bar slidably supports the extensible bed slats with the extended bed having a six-point floor support arrangement.
Hart el al Patent No. 117,775 discloses an extension lounge in which an extension member can be withdrawn from the front edge of a couchlike lounge. The lounge when extended includes extension slats supported by the main frame and also by the extendable wing providing six-point floor support for the lounge when extended.
Streit Patent No. Re 9,099 also discloses an extension lounge for a reclining person in which a wing member is withdrawn from the side edge of a main frame with the extension slats slidably supported by the main frame and by the wing member with an overall six-point support system of the lounge as extended.
Pritchard No. 326,918 and DeVault No. 748,847 disclose extension beds with telescoping head and foot board members and sliding slats with intermediate supporting spines or rails to aid in supporting the bed slats when extended. Both of these patents disclose extension beds with four-point floor support.
The above reference patents represent the state of the art with respect to extension beds fabricated of hardwoods with subsequent prior art being directed to different materials or a combination of mechanisms for supporting extension beds including McKnight No. 1,037,283 which discloses an angle iron extensible bed where the extensible member is stored in and under a main frame and is moved to side-by-side position with the main frame to form a double bed. Stoltenberg No. 1,721,647 describes a bed davenport in which one of the members is stored within the other and withdrawn to extended position. Heumann No. 2,997,724 is directed to a stacked couch arrangement and Farkas No. 3,450,072 directed to a sidewise extensible article of furniture such as shelves or a bookcase.
Each of the foregoing patents is limited to either the concept of having four-point support in which the basic article of furniture is extended to increase its usable size with structural members supporting the extension slats within a four-point floor support system or to the concept of providing an additional two-point support for the extensible member resulting in an articulated piece of furniture having six supporting points. Additionally, the prior art in utilizing sliding bed slats does not disclose an arrangement for affixing the slat members at both ends to a main frame to provide a rigid frame structure.
Thus, while the foregoing extensible furniture achieves the advantage of conserving space as well as double utility there is, nonetheless, a sacrifice in comfort in that the supporting arrangements for the extension part are not as sturdy as those for the main frame. Additionally, by reason of sliding support of extensible wings on a main frame, the foregoing extensible beds lack the structural integrity needed for comfort in the bed configuration.